Techno Cop

Install Windows 7 Upgrade in Macbook Air

My Amazon order of pre-release Windows 7 Home Premium UPGRADE arrived on schedule last week. Since the Release Candidate (RC) installed in all of my computers are good until March 2010, I decided to install the first of the 3 copies in the Macbook Air under bootcamp.

I did not have any problems installing the release candidate before, but that was a full working version. I had to search the web for the workaround in installing the UPGRADE version which is what I got. Luckily, I found a very helpful guide courtesy of PAUL THURROTT’s Supersite.

So how did it go? I can tell you that everything went without a hitch. The activated version of the Windows 7 Home Premium (UPGRADE) was up and running in the AIR in under an hour, exclusive of the extra 2 hours to install my fav software and to get all Windows Update downloaded and installed.

Here is the step by step:

1. Preparing the Macbook Air

• I saved most of my files and settings to an external drive using Windows 7 RC Windows Easy Transfer.
• I also insured that all my software installers are on hand.

2. Windows 7 Home Premium (UPGRADE) Installation

• On the Mac side, I fired-up bootcamp assistant and started with the repartitioning of the MAC HD into a single partition. This step effectively erased all the files containing the old Windows 7 RC. This step is basically a repeat of my previous installation using the RC. Simple Help provided a very elaborate step by step guide of this process. Note that I selected CUSTOM installation when prompted. This is the option that allows for a clean install of the OS, which is what I wanted.

3. Activating Windows 7

Even the instructions that came with the DVD of Windows 7 detailed the need to have a running XP or Vista in order to activate the UPGRADE version. That is why I readied the 3 licensed copies of XP and 1 Vista Business just incase. As it turned out, this was not necessary if you will follow the steps provided by THURROTT’s:

• After performing the clean install, ensure that there are no Windows Updates pending that would require a system reboot. (You'll see an orange shield icon next to Shutdown in the Start Menu if this is the case).
• Then, open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:
• HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/
• Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0".
• Open the Start Menu again and type cmd to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose "Run as administrator." Handle the UAC prompt.
• In the command line window, type: slmgr /rearm
• Then tap ENTER, close the command line window and reboot. When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows.

4. Installing all Software

• With the external hard drive containing my old files connected, I double clicked on the file WindowsEasyTransfer.MIG. This immediately started installation of all my old files and settings.
• I then clicked on START, typed easy transfer reports, and clicked on that application. This presented me with a neat listing of all the software that used to be installed in the old computer.
• I then just installed all of them one by one (Office 2007, Photoshop CS4, TextAloud, Windows Live writer, Firefox, Sugarsync, Mindmanager Pro 8, and Microsoft Security Essentials).

Voila! A Macbook Air with Windows 7 Home Premium that will never expire.

Next up will be to find time to install the 2 remaining W7 OS on my 2 desktops.

WINDOWS 7 for Now

My friend and business partner,ALLAN JARLOS, recently offered to give me a license for the latest MAC OSX upgrade – SNOW LEOPARD. I politely declined saying that doing so would require me to re-install under boot camp my daily OS of choice- Windows 7. Besides, I hardly ever use MAC OSX anymore since I downloaded the Windows 7 beta. I told him that although my everyday computer is a MACBOOK Air, it is practically a PC since I only use it with Windows 7 running under boot camp. I detailed in this post some of the Windows 7 experiences that made me fall in love with this soon to be released OS from Microsoft.

As it turns out, a veteran tech columnist and analyst Joe Wilcox would have done the same.

His reason for his current love affair with Windows is practically the same as mine. He really likes the Windows 7 interface, and he feels it makes him more productive. Here is an excerpt of his article in BetaNews:

The Mac OS X user interface, once trendsetting, is now a tired motif overdue for overhaul. Worse, Apple hints at what the UI could and should be in a few places, with QuickTime being the most visible example. The QuickTime UI is refreshing and new -- delightful. Something similar should skin much of Snow Leopard. Worse still, QuickTime's more modern UI is jarring reminder when switching back to the Snow Leopard Finder about how old most of the rest of Mac OS X feels.

By comparison, Windows 7 feels surprisingly fresh. Microsoft is finally doing good user interface design.

I find myself to be way more productive using Windows 7 than any Mac OS X version, and that's surprising to me. For years, the greater productivity claim belonged to Mac OS X. Consistently, I get about 30 percent to 40 percent more work done using Windows 7 than either Leopard or Snow Leopard. Windows Vista doesn't rate. The combined usability flaws -- everything from slow resume from sleep to nagging pop-ups to UI pauses or hangs -- are too much for me to use Windows Vista any longer.

More importantly, I have loads more fun using Windows 7 than Mac OS X. I haven't had this much fun using a Microsoft operating system since Windows 95. After more than three months running Mac OS X, I really missed Windows 7. By comparison, for the six months I primarily used Windows 7 test builds, I only missed Mac OS X for iLife.

I can say that these are the same reasons why, for the past nine months, my productivity has greatly improved working mainly in Windows 7. My personal experience has only been stellar that all my computers are now running the Windows 7 release candidate. The same reasons why, in July of this year, I pulled the trigger and ordered 3 copies of Windows 7 at a pre-release price of $49.99 each.

N97 Updated to New OS 11.0.021

In a blog I wrote some three weeks ago I noted some minor annoyances with the N. 97 that I feel could be addressed by a firmware update. The long wait is over. While syncing the N97 to the desktop this morning, I was prompted with the dialog box below:

I have shown below the different dialog boxes that I had to go through for this install. It took all of 20 minutes to complete the download with no issues whatsoever.

The following are just some of my initial impressions after the update:

• The install went smoothly with practically all data and settings saved and running in the updated N97. Even the third party software's I have installed are all working fine.
• the issue with having to pull on the side lock twice in order to unlock the device has been solved.
• The touchscreen now seems to be more responsive and, unlike before, I do not need to exert extra force when scrolling down screen menus.
• Even the accelerometer (for switching the phone between portrait and landscape modes) seem to be more sponsored.

Thanks so much NOKIA.

Windows 7 Experience Index

In my previous blog I wrote about why I am now seriously considering switching back to windows after almost two years of quite satisfying and productive experience with Apple’s OS X (both Tiger and Leopard). The dilemma was primarily a consequence of my amazing experience with the beta version of Windows 7.

Ever since I downloaded the beta version, I have already installed W7 in 3 computers:

1. HP 2710P Tablet PC. 1.2 ghz Core two Duo with 2 gig RAM.
2. Netbook. Asus EEE 1000H with 1.6 intel Atom proc and 2 gig RAM.
3. Desktop. The most recent addition to THQ, a $500 powerhouse sporting a Quad Core 2.4 ghz proc (Q6600) with 4 gig RAM.

Here are the Windows Experience Indexes for each:

HP 2710P

Asus EEE 1000H

Quad Core 2.4 4 Gig RAM

I have already said that Windows 7 turned the the 2 year old HP 2710P into a productivity gem. I can now also say that the same is true with the Netbook which used to run OS X (hackintosh). The only issue I encountered when installing W7 in the netbook was with the wifi. I had to to actually look for the original installer from Asus and installed from the CD the Ralink WLAN driver.

As happy as I may be with my two laptops running W7, I am blown away by the speed I am currently experiencing with my new $500 desktop. You add to that an absolutely flawless install of W7 (all drivers and applications working) and I was thinking why I ever even left Windows in the first place (Answer- a five letter word that starts with a V). This desktop easily beats in every department my sub-$2000 Dream Desktop (circa 2005).

Having all these extremely impressive experiences with this new product from Redmond, these had me thinking as to what I am really looking for in a computer. When you remove the eye candies, form factors and Veblenesque, I am actually looking for only 3 things:

1. It must work like a slave. It sits when I tell it to sit, it works when I tell it to work.

2. It must work with all of my must have applications. Right now, I mean Office 2007, Mindmanager 8.0, TextAloud, Photoshop CS (?), and Firefox.

3. It must provide me with a reasonable degree of immunity to the prevailing threats out of the box.

Let me leave you with this question, how does your present OS measure up in these 3 departments? Please share with me your thoughts.

Macbook with 4g RAM Upgraded to 10.5.6

I deliberately held-off updating the Macbook Alum's software to the latest version OS X, 10.5.6, due to the reported issues with laptops with 4 gig of RAM.Five days ago, after cloning the Mac HD onto an external drive using Superduper, I decided that it is time to try the update. I was brazen enough knowing fully well that I could easily rollback to the old software (via Superduper) in the event that I experience similar troubles.

Well, it has been almost a week and the Alum is still running flawlessly with the software update installed. For those of you who have been holding off the upgrade, below are the specs of identical 2gig RAM sticks that Apple installed in mine:

2 GB
Type: DDR3
Speed: 1067 MHz
Status: OK
Manufacturer: 0x0198
Part Number: 0x393930353432382D3030312E4230304C4600
Serial Number: 0x710E550B

If you have a new Macbook Alum 2.4 ghz with 4gig of RAM with the above specs, I believe it is safe for you to do the update and not worry about the common problems experienced by some.If you happen to be using RAM from a 3rd party, I suggest that you first clone your Mac HD, like I did using Superduper, that way, and should you experience any freezing problems, you can always revert back to your original HD state.

BTW, since the new macbooks do not come with firewire, to make a USB external drive bootable, you must first partition it using your Macbook's Disk utility prior to using that with Superduper.I partitioned mine as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

How To Digitize a Book

I have been converting PDF files, notes, web clippings and anything text to MP3 files so I could bring them with me and listen while on the fly. Recently, I have a couple of books that I simply could not finish due mainly to their being rich in content. Instead of buying an audiobook version of books that I already have, there must be a way to convert these books to MP3’s. Last Jan 31, I decided to do just that and converted a book accordingly. For this project, I had to use the following:

1. Exacto Knife
2. Optional Rototrim cutter.
3. Fujitsu Scansnap S510M scanner with bundled Abbyy Finereader OCR software
4. TextAloud text to speech conversion software.

The total process took me around 3 hours with most of it involving the careful cutting of the book one page at a time. Here is the step by step:

1. Cut each page. Using the exacto knife, just cut each page as uniformly as you can. In my case, I did not bother insuring that every page was of uniform size. After cutting every page, I then used the Rototrim to insure that every page is of uniform size. If you do not have a Rototrim, you just have to be careful during the cutting process to insure that every page is cut uniformly. I did a final check to insure that all pages are uniform in size and are in their correct order. This process took about 1 and a half hours to complete.
2. Scan Pages to searchable PDF. I put the S510M through its paces. I set the Scansnap software to scan in duplex mode and scanning to searchable PDF (the s510M uses the AbbyFinereader OCR software that came bundled). I then scanned 50 pages at a time which is the maximum the sheet feeder could accommodate. I was extremely amazed at how accurate the scans were. I managed to scan all 257 pages of the book without a single error. Yes, The S510M with Abbyy Finereader can do an amazing job in this department. This process took only 30 minutes to complete.
3. Remove page numbers and headers. I opened the searchable PDF file using Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.0 which again came bundled with the S510M. I selected all the text and pasted them in my favorite text editor -Textedit. In Textedit, I removed every header and page number that appeared on each page, I then saved the edited file.I left the Chapter numbers alone, which will come useful in the next step. Another 30 minutes.
4. Convert text to speech. With the text file from #3 above open, I fired-up TextAloud. I then selected every chapter in the text file and dumped each one in TextAloud for conversion. I bought two optional voices for TextAloud _ Kate and Paul. For this audiobook, I chose Paul. It took me another 45 minutes to complete this process.
5. Bind the original pages of the book (optional). 15 minutes using a desktop binding machine.

In about 3 hours from start to finish, I was done with the project with all 13 chapters of the book stored in my iPhone. Each chapter averaged about 5mb once converted to mp3.

Now, I checked Amazon and determined that I have had the book since October but have not gotten to finish reading it for more than 2 months. With the mp3 of the book inside the iPhone, I am now on my second reading.

Do you have any book worth digitizing?

Simple New Year ToDo List

I find that writing down things that I have to do not only keeps me on track but also insures that things I have set out to do are actually accomplished. In keeping with the spirit of the coming new year, I started searching for a new method of collecting, maintaining, and updating my new year's TO DO LIST.

Gottabemobile offered several alternatives on how to do just that. The only problem is although I have, and still use, most of the softwares they were recommending, the methods were Tablet PC centric. Here is their list:

• MindJet's MindManager - a very popular application for brainstorming, managing projects, managing to-do lists, and integrating with Outlook. They also make a Mac version
• Outlook 2007 - The To Do list in the side bar is a great way of staying on top of emails that you've flagged or tasks you've created. To ways to keep tabs on an email: drag it to your Task List button to create a task from the email; or, flag it for follow up so it shows up in the To Do list.
• Create a to-do template in OneNote 2007
• Franklin Covey's PlanPlus for Outlook
• Create an on-the-fly To Do list in Windows Journal

   

I know for a fact that either one of the above methods is an effective way of handling even the most complicated of TO DO LISTs. Even if I don't carry the HP 2710P tablet PC that much anymore, I can still run all those Windows software in the Macbook Alum or even in the MacPro under Parallels. But what I need really is just a simple system that no matter which of my computers I happen to be working on, I will have access to my To Do List. I have found the Google App TASK to be good enough for my needs but that is only accessible everytime I am connected to the web.

Enter OmniOutliner 3.0 (OO3). It is a very powerful outlining software that may not be cheap at $69.95. It just so happened that it came bundled in the Macbook. I have barely scratched the surface of its overall functionality. I simply opened the provided ToDoList template and found it to be exactly what I was looking for. OO3 comes with a very well written user's manual that any user wanting to dig deeper into OO3 will find useful.

After typing my initial list, I simply saved the document inside my Magic Briefcase folder. I then created a 'trigger' (CTRL+SHIFT+T) in Quicksilver to automatically launch my newly created ToDoList.

Here is my workflow: 1. CTRL+SHIFT+T to open my List; 2. Type in any updates in my list;3. Hit CMD+S to save the file; and 4. Hit CMD+Q to quit.

Now, to be able to access this list in any of my computers, I would need SUGARSYNC and OO3 running in all of them. SUGARSYNC is a no brainer since it does not limit the number of computers syncing with Magic Briefcase. For OO3, I would need to buy a license for each of my computer. I settled for a trial version and installed that in the MacPro. Sure enough, after replicating the above steps in the Macbook ALUM, whatever changes I make in the ALUM is automatically (assuming that SUGARSYN is connected online) visible.

This system will be my primary mode of handling my ToDoList for 2009 or at least until one of the trial version expires.

What system do you use to handle your ToDoList?

Backup – It’s That Time of the Year

Going on two years with the Mac OSX, I have never regretted making the switch. I have not experienced a single glitch, except for minor hiccups that were hardware related (D LINK USB wireless adapter on the MacPro). Even these, however, were nothing that a simple system reset could not cure. Be it on the laptop or the desktop, OS X simply works without the often experienced delays caused by a software updating, a pop-up ad, or what not (Windows users know what they are.)

As stable as the OS X may be, the prudent user must know that computer hardware are more prone to crashes (read: hard drive failures) and should prepare accordingly. Although, I have not experienced any need for a backup since the switch, prudence dictates that everybody should have one. In fact I have a redundant system (i.e. entire hard drive images are stored in an external hard disk while files are backed-up on the web via Sugarsync).

I find that there is no better time to backup than towards the start of a new year. And that is precisely what I have done most of yesterday:

1. Since I no longer use MS OUTLOOK, I had to backup all of my emails which are all stored online in Gmail. I saw this Step by Step guide in backing up Gmail on the Mac using GMAIL BACKUP and Python. It seemed pretty straightforward but I decided to try another route – Apple Mail. I just setup Apple Mail to download all my emails and was done in under an hour. I did some random checks to see if Apple Mail was able to download everything, and it did. EMAILS – Check.
2. Since I am already syncing all my current files via the Magic Briefcase of Sugarsync, this should be a piece of cake. I simply compared the contents in all of my computers to insure that all file versions are the same, and they are. My workflow in using Magic Briefcase is similar to my use of Powerdocs folder. Backup all current files – Check.
3. Finally, I need to have a bootable image of all the hard drives in all my computers. I did not bother with Leopard's Time Machine since it does not allow for saving bootable backups. I went straight to the old and reliable Superduper. Using the same IOMEGA HD 400 gig triple interface, I just created a new partition to accommodate the new Macbook Aluminum. I actually referred back to an old post here in order to clone the MacPro, the Alum, and the netbook OS X. Bootable backup of all computers – Check.

Considering that the Iomega is now more than a year old, I have included in my to do list the need to look for another external drive that, this time, could handle a RAID system.

And that's that. I can now sleep soundly knowing that I have at least two copies of every single file and software that I have used for the past year.

If you are still reading this blog, stop procrastinating and go backup your important files.

New Macbook is in the House

I recently pulled the trigger and bought myself a new 13" Aluminum Macbook 2.4 ghz with 4gig of RAM. The following are what I installed in the ALUM:

Mac OSX

1. Photoshop CS4
2. Adobe Lightroom
3. Sugarsync
4. Firefox (with Foxmarks bookmark and Mouse Gesture)
5. Parallels 3.0
6. Superduper
7. Snapz Pro
8. Quicksilver
9. Toast Titanium 9.0
10. Canon iP90v printer drivers

Windows (under Parallels)

1. TextAloud
2. Microsoft office 2007
3. Mindmanager Pro 7.0

The number is about half of what I installed in the old Macbook. Obviously, this also reduced the amount of time for me to get the ALUM up and running. It took me around two hours to install everything with most of this time eaten up by the XP installation. There was no need to synchronize email (I leave that to Gmail) or any files (done for me automatically by Sugarsync).

 

The following are what I like most about the ALUM:

Thin. At about 1/10 of an inch thinner that the old Macbook, I was surprised that it fits snugly in my favorite netbook bag.

 

Speed. It launches applications significantly faster than the old Macbook 2.16 ghz with 2 gig RAM. I guess the 4 gig ram and the 2.44 ghz processor is a good combination.

 

Battery Life is much improved. I now get between 4-5 hours of normal use (wifi-on, running parallels only when I need to). Even the old battery geek also works which gives me an additional 2-3 hours runtime.

 

If I really must say something that I don't like about the ALUM, it has to do with the software update 10.5.6 from Apple. You will note from the picture above that I have not downloaded this update yet due to reported issues with the 4 gig ram. So far, I have not experienced a single incident where the ALUM froze just like what is being reported by a number of users in the Apple forum. I will update mine only when I am sure that this issue with the 4 gig RAM has been resolved. Or, let me make a bootable image of the ALUM first using Superduper and depending on how daring I am on that day, I might give 10.5.6 a try.

I guess that with the arrival of the ALUM in THQ, the question that begs to be answered is, "What happens now with the netbook?"More on this in my subsequent blogs.

Mac OS X Scanner

One thing that has enhanced my productivity over the years is my being 100 percent paperless. Every time I receive anything that is paper, it is immediately scanned, filed, then gets eaten up by the shredder. A good combination of a decent scanner and a compatible software are what had made this possible.

After years of trouble free use, I decided to install in our new office the old Canon DR 2580C which I have been using together with Adobe Acrobat Professional 7.0.

Recently, we had our hands full with voluminous files that need to be shared among my team members. Given the mood of the season, I decided to let my staff have the two year old 2580c. After reading raving reviews about the Fujitsu Scansnap S510, I decided to buy one for the SOHO – the THQ. I was not disappointed.

There are several assumptions about scanners in general that have been disproved by the S510M:

1. Scanners take up lots of desk space. The S510M’s footprint is even smaller than my old Canon DR 2580C and is almost just half that of a 13 inch macbook. It may not be as portable as the canon because of its girth but S510M is still amazingly small.

2. Scanners are slow. At 18 page a minute, it may not be as swift as the DR 2580C. But scanning a 30 page document in under two minutes, in my vocabulary, is fast.

3. Converting documents to text is a joke. Not, so with the very good integration of the Scansnap software and the bundled OCR software - ABYY FineReader for ScanSnap™ 3.0 Mac Edition. I am experiencing close to 100% accuracy in this department.

4. They are prone to paper jams. I have scanned 500 pages of different sizes and have not yet, fingers crossed, encountered a single paper jam.

It is a small scanner which weighs only 5.9 lb. The paper feeder can hold 50 sheets and it can scan a variety of paper sizes. The ScanSnap can scan color documents at 600dpi, black and white at 1,200dpi, and Duplex at 0.6 pages per minute to 1.2 images per minute. It also come with a film sheet that allows me to scan crumpled paper and even A3 sized poster (folded, placed inside the film sheet, and scanned in duplex mode).

ScanSnap S510M can clearly scan photographs but the original may come out folded since the feed path isn’t completely straight. Besides, for pictures, we have plenty of flatbed scanners gathering dust in the office.

The S510 comes bundled with the following software:

• Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional

• ABYY FineReader for ScanSnap™ 3.0 Mac Edition

• Cardiris 3.5 (Business card scans)

My workflow in the past was to scan a document, give it a filename, and manually store it in various different folders. With the added scan to searchable PDF (via FineReader), I just let the S510M do its thing and need not worry about naming the file or which folder to put them in. Scanned searchable PDFs are given default names and saved in the default folder which I selected, all these with the push of one button in the S510M. Life just got sweeter.

The S510M will set you back around US$435. But if you exclude the cost of the bundled software it comes with, your total cost for the hardware should be just around, drum roll, FREE. This is not a typo. Go check with Amazon.

Let me leave you with just one question. Have you ‘tamed your paper tiger’ lately?